November Movie Reviews

*****   Exceptional

****     Great

***       OK

**         So So

*           Blah

And While We Were Here is about a married woman (Kate Bosworth) in Italy with her husband who is a violist. Her marriage is not fulfilling, he never wants to talk, he doesn't seem to care about her even though he says he loves her. She meets a cute 19-year old boy who is goofy and fun and cute. Did I say cute? And she wants some fun in her life. I think sad marriages are depressing.***

Appaloosa was about two fine looking lawmen hired to keep the peace in a little Wild West town. Ed Harris and Viggo Mortensen are yummy.  Jeremy Irons plays the bad guy and he's pretty hot, too. A whole movie full of horse-riding hotties. Rene Zellweger is the woman who bounces between them. Great western. ****

Big Stone Gap was a mushy, romantic, feel-good movie about a little Virginia town in 1978 and its inhabitants. Costumes were great. It featured Ashley Judd as an "old maid" with Whoopi Goldberg, Patrick Wilson, Jane Krakowski, and Jenna Elfman. It was quaint and sweet, but not very interesting. The Virginia accents didn't feel authentic. ***

Butter  I thought this was going to be some mushy, feel-good Hallmark-style tear jerker movie and was very surprised the first time Jennifer Gardner yelled out the F-word. She plays a ruthless, self-centered, greedy butter carving contestant and with a lack of morality will stab anyone in the back to win. (Trump in heels.) Her competition is a sweet African-American foster child. It has an all-star cast featuring Ty Burrell, Hugh Jackman, and Alicia Silverstone, but the best performance was from Olivia Wilde who plays the village hooker. Great character.  By the end of the movie the Gardner character is running for a political office. Of course. ***

The Contract is about a father (John Cusack) who takes his son camping in the wilderness of Washington State and ends up running across federal agents trying to bring in a hit man (Morgan Freeman) who was on a mission. The hit man's friends are trying to save him, and of course, the government has hired one of the friends to take out the hit man. Excellent performances, intense plot, beautiful scenery, and never a dull moment. Landscape was appropriately rain-drenched, green, and authentic considering it was filmed in Bulgaria. ****

The 5th Wave is an apocalyptic movie about aliens who take over the planet in steps (or waves) such as electromagnetic surges to destroy all electrical devices, flash flooding, and a virus spread by birds. I'm still unclear what the fourth wave was.... The die-hard survivors including our teen star, Cassie, (Chloe Grace Moretz) gather at a make-shift refugee camp in the woods until the Army comes to inform them everyone is being transported to the local military base starting with children first. When the kids are gone, the adults are informed aliens are taking over human bodies and they have a test for children that is reliable but not for adults, panic ensues, guns are pulled and everyone is slaughtered. The army manipulates the children into thinking they are the key to saving the world when in fact the Army has been taken over by the aliens and the children totting machine guns are the 5th wave. If it wasn't so violent and scary it would be a great kids' movies since most of the actors are children. The first part was actually really great with lots of human interest and great special effects, but then half way through it starts feeling really staged, unbelievable, and even the acting becomes substandard. And then it ended at what felt like the middle of the movie. I think they are hoping for a sequel.***

The Final Girls was a very creative idea. It's about a girl whose mother is an actress and slasher movie queen. She gets killed in a car wreck and years later the daughter is asked to appear at the slasher movie cult viewing for the anniversary of her mother's death. A fire starts in the theater and she runs through the screen with her friends to escape and wakes up IN the movie. Of course, they know the movie plot, who dies, who doesn't (the final girl), heck, they know the dialogue by heart so they have to figure out how to survive believing if they survive the movie the nightmare will end and they get to go home. The daughter is reunited with her dead mother who is the character in the movie, but she hopes to save her thinking if she can keep her alive, she can come home with her at the end. It was very touching, but the whole idea was pretty weird and convoluted. I'm not sure why the characters didn't try to change some of the movie which might have changed the plot. It was all very bizarre and the ending didn't address some very basic questions: WHY and HOW and WHEN. **

God Grew Tired of Us is a documentary about the war-torn Sudanese refugees called the Lost Boys. When the Muslim Sudanese in the North attacked the Christian South, their mission was to kill all boys or if not kill them then render them sterile by poking holes in their testicles. Displaced boys of all ages fled their villages, separated from their families who were killed or fled in different directions, and walked hundreds of miles first to Ethiopia then Kenya to safety. With no food or water most of them starved along the way, yet tens of thousands ended up at the refugee camp just across the Kenyan border at Kakuma. This follows the story of a few of the boys after ten years in the camp who were granted immigrant visas to live, work and study in the United States. The cultural shock was really interesting. They are very determined to succeed working multiple jobs and attending school so they can help the countrymen they left behind and make a difference in the world. It always amazes me these young men who came from less than nothing are able to take advantage of the opportunities in America yet so many American youth fail so miserably.  Very sad stories. ****

Hail, Caesar! was a very strange movie about Hollywood filmmaking in the 1930s (?). It was slow and even with all the celebrities, I couldn't get into it. It wasn't funny and it wasn't clever. It was nothing. Either that or it went over my head. *

Horrible Bosses is about three men with three nightmare bosses. Unable to quit their jobs, they decide to kill them. Now, it started off really good with really bad work situations that anyone who has ever  been employed could relate to. The bosses are delightfully evil. Jennifer Anniston plays a dentist with a serious sexual harassment problem. Then the humor gets really stupid when the three dim-witted employees can't seem to do anything right. It's too bad because I think the writers could have made it smart and it had a great cast so the stupidity was a little unnecessary and surprising.**

How to Be Single is a comedy about four young single women (Dakota Johnson, Rebel Wilson, Leslie Mann, and Alison Brie) living in New York each with a different perception of singlehood.  Great commentaries on gender differences. It was very good and thought-provoking, with some funny dialogue and clever moments. "Dicksand"...HAHAHA! Rebel Wilson had some great lines. ****

The Next Three Days is about an innocent woman (Elizabeth Banks) who is sent to prison for murdering her boss. After her husband (Russell Crowe) exhausts all options to prove her innocence and she attempts suicide, he calculates a desperate and very intricate prison break plan. Very well-written story, excellent performances, suspenseful, and exhaustingly thrilling. That last hour I was shaking uncontrollable from all the tension. Well-done.****

Ratter  Well, this one was unbelievably creepy and scary. I saw the previews and avoided it for a while then I figured it might be a good cautionary tale with educational value. According to the DVD case the definition for ratter is: someone who hacks personal devices to stalk their victim's lives. The movie is about Emma, a sweet twenty-three year old college student who moves from the mid-west to the big city. Like most young adults she has a laptop, desktop or TV, and cell phone and has at least one of them if not two of them with her at all times. The movie is filmed through these devices watching every move she makes: walking down the street, in class, in the library, in the coffee shop, out at dance clubs, on dates, with friends, in the living room, kitchen, bedroom, and bathroom. She has been hacked and is being stalked 24/7.  The stalker has various views of her apartment, listens to her phone conversations (she gives her address to a take-out place), tracks her geodata when she's out, snaps photos of her while she's dressing, sleeping, peeing or bathing, send her emails and porn from her friends' email addresses and deletes emails and voice messages from other people. He gets more brazen as the movie progresses, enters her apartment when she isn't there and even in the middle of the night when she is sleeping. It's so incredibly creepy. Little by little she figures out something is wrong and she becomes paranoid, but she never connects it with her devices. She keeps changing her passwords, but it does little good. I kept wanting to yell JUST TURN OFF ALL THOSE DAMN DEVICES! Why does everyone have to be ON all the time??? I find it really obnoxious. Give it a rest! And I'm not sure why it makes people feel more secure to talk on the phone if in a potentially dangerous situation. If you are going to get attacked, the person on the phone isn't going to be able to do anything but listen to you scream. Very creative filming and editing, great photography. It made me feel really paranoid and creepy which I am sure was the intention. ****

Rock the Kasbah was about a music manager/has-been rock tour promoter (Bill Murray) who in a desperate attempt to make some money takes his only client (Zooey Deschanel) to Afghanistan to perform for the troops. Her role is very small. She steals all his money and passport, leaves, and he ends up as a munitions runner in the desert. In a remote village he discovers a young woman who sings on the sly in a cave at night. He puts her on a television talent show. Hmmm...It wasn't very realistic. I mean if their culture would kill a young woman for singing in public, but this buffoon gets her on a TV show with very little effort? Didn't buy it, and I wasn't sold on Bill Murray as a leading man either. His comedy style felt outdated. Bruce Willis was some kind of mercenary and Kate Hudson a hooker. I lost interest in the plot about halfway through. *

Stay is about an Irish professor (Aidan Quinn) hiding in the countryside of Ireland with his Canadian girlfriend (Taylor Schilling). Both have emotional baggage dealing with relationships, parenting and children. It was a nice human relations story with lots of complex characters trying to deal with one another. ***

Stealing Cars is about a exceptionally smart teenage boy who ends up in the last-chance Bernville Camp for Boys with abusive guards and dangerous inmates. Excellent movie with lots of human relationship drama and outstanding performances. The use of flashbacks was perfect. All-star cast. Never dull moment and Emory Cohen is adorable and mesmerizing. *****

Take This Waltz was about a woman (Michelle Williams) who has been married for five years and they take each other for granted. She's bored and he is dismissive. She meets this dashing, gorgeous romantic who lives across the street. Most of the movie is about her falling in love with him, but determined to remain faithful to her husband she never acts on it.  It's very slow, but Williams is a wonderful actress and very interesting to watch as she can convey emotion with very little effort. The ending is very thought-provoking. I like a movie with a message. ***

Tarzan  Oh! My! That vampire guy is a delicious ape man! Great special effects swinging through the jungles, beautiful sets, great story, great performances. Jane was kick ass. The story focuses less on Tarzan's background (the one we all know from the old movies) and more on an updated storyline of greed and slavery. The bonus feature on how they filmed it was fascinating. A few cameramen went to Africa to shoot scenery, but other than that nothing was filmed in Africa!  They had huge sets of recreated jungles, CG animals (not one animal in the whole film was real!), whole towns and villages built, and extras as African tribes people who went through lots of workshops to become authentic. Don't miss this bonus feature. Quite Amazing. ****

To Write Love on Her Arms is based on the true story about a young woman who struggles with bipolar, addiction, and self-mutilation. The special effects when she's a kid were awesome, performances were excellent, the lead actress Kat Dennings was outstanding. ****

Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolf? with Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton based on the play of the same name. I've never seen this movie. Talk about dysfunctional! Boy those people never stopped drinking. They can't walk, but they just keep drinking and screaming at each other. I can't imagine living with or around alcoholics. Great performances especially from Elizabeth Taylor. Of course, it's very dated with excessively-emotional dramatic performances.***

The Truth about Cancer

October and Breast Cancer Awareness Month came and went. Once again my community was painting the town in toxic pink, celebrating how wonderfully capitalistic cancer is, and donating money to NOTHING. I've learned to block it out. Here's a great article on the sleazy businesses of cancer charities, particularly the Susan G. Komen for the Cure, from the website The Truth about Cancer.

The most enlightening quote from the article:

Despite what Komen and others would have you believe, breast cancer mortality rates are nearly the same today as they were 25 years ago. 

Yes, all that donating and all that walking do absolutely NOTHING to control cancer. The article exposes the sleazy financial gain of these companies including the annual salary of Komen's president of $425,000 (whoa!) not to mention the obvious agenda of doctors. No surprise there.

Prevention campaigns are ignored because virtually all of this money goes towards programs and endeavors that have nothing to do with finding a cure for breast cancer, and everything to do with signing more women up for breast cancer treatment and management. 

This, of course, supports Dr. Glidden's statistics that chemotherapy cures very few cancer patients. He also believes the only value of treatments is to line the pockets of money hungry quacks who get commissions and kick-backs for prescribing cancer drugs.

There is no magic "cure" for cancer that allows everyone to continue their bad diets and poisonous habits. I wish people would figure that out and then finally recognize the dangers of chemicals.

Multimillionaires Intolerant of Toilet Stink

Bill Gates wants to perfume the toilet pits of third world countries. He believes chemicals that work to shut down your brain so it is incapable of smelling are the answer to sanitation problems of the world. He believes if he can spread a few of these chemical toxins around the latrine pits that poor people will be more inclined to use them and then for some reason, the sanitation problem would magically rectify itself. The disease and bacteria would disappear with the smell. No one would care what the poop pit looks like as long as it doesn't smell. Or maybe he's thinking poop pit patrons with chemically-induced brain poisoning won't care if they are sick and diseased from poor sanitation?

You'd think a man with this much money and research at his fingertips would actually question the rationality of camouflaging poop pits with toxic chemicals. You'd think a man with this much money might try to find a better, more lasting solution that wouldn't create MORE health issues while doing nothing to rectify the underlying sanitation issues. You'd think a man with this much money would THINK, or at least be able to hire others to think for him.

So...in lieu of a rational explanation because using perfume as a solution to anything makes no sense what so ever...

I have to ask what kind of investments does Mr. Gates have in chemical companies? Perhaps this is just a financial windfall designed to support the chemical companies in his pocket?

When will people wake up and finally figure out these toxic chemicals are not options for health? Scented products don't make things clean they only make a smelly situation stinkier and life threatening to many of us.

You may read the article HERE or his blog HERE

Solidarity Safety Pins

The safety pin movement started as a protest in Britain against the Bretix vote and in support of the immigrants and refugees who were being marginalized.  Those of us in the United States of America, former land of the free and current home of the brave, are protesting the election of the sexist, racist, xenophobic, ableist, Russian-supported sociopath who has created fear and mayhem with his hate mongering rants on deportation, his racist attitudes inciting white supremacy and violence toward people of color, his explicit claims that he can sexually assault women and get away with it, and his threat to dismantle environmental policies, destroy the Clean Air Act and give unconditional power to the big oil corporations. Money rules with this demagogue. Wearing the pin silently communicates solidarity and support to those who might not be feeling safe now.

Well, I looked at that ugly pin and decided it needed some pizazz. I don't know if this is allowed. Maybe too much decoration hides the pin and, therefore, impedes communication? I did it anyway. I added beads. Various colors of beads to represent all people of color, immigrants, homosexuals, women, and the environment. I'm including the environment because without clean air, clean water, and clean everything, the chemically sensitive aren't going to feel safe either...

Today I drove to a neighboring town and went shopping at my favorite shoe store. I haven't been in the store for a while, but my favorite salesman still remembered my name. After some discussion on the various styles of footwear, I finally noticed he was wearing a safety pin. Yes, it is very silent. I gasped and whispered, "You are my people!" I had my raincoat on and flung it open to reveal my own safety pin of solidarity. We bent toward each other whispering passionately about the protest. I think this is like being in the resistance. Except we aren't sabotaging anything or carrying guns...yet.

I'm pretty sure those of us who care about our country and the people in it will be wearing these safety pins for four years...unless the sociopath gets impeached which is a very realistic probability since he is so self-centered, arrogantly careless, inexperienced, and not so smart on so many levels. I'm hoping it's just a matter of time before he flubs up greatly and the GOP can't ignore it anymore, but I pray he doesn't take the whole country down until then. OR he's going to piss off the Russians and they'll send a hit man...

I still can't believe stupid people voted for a man who worked with Russia to get elected. Russian hackers (spies!) infiltrating our communications systems. And there are Americans out there who approved of this with their vote. Wow. So scary. It wasn't too long ago we executed Russian spies. Now they are cheered by the American ignorant for swaying the election while the president-elect puppet boasts of their ruler's leadership skills. Wow. Wow. Wow.

November Roses

In spite of the dark skies,
monsoons,
raging winds,
and general ugliness of the season...

beauty still persists.

Caligula Reincarnated: Lessons from the Election

Donald Trump spent the last year spouting hate and violence. He spent the last month screaming about a rigged election determined to incite his rabble into action should he lose. Now he's wondering why people are protesting. He's wondering why his followers are attacking immigrants or people of color. His response is to scream at them. Why not? Reckless, unprofessional behavior got him elected. The man knows so little about the office to which he's been elected and to say he is unfit to be president is an understatement. If it wasn't so horrifying, it might be really entertaining, but four years of his incompetence and hate-mongering sounds like the ultimate nightmare. It's bad enough I'm a woman who must now tolerate the misogynistic values symbolic of his ascension, but I am afraid for all the Muslims and Hispanics he's threatened to deport, the African Americans and gays he's disenfranchised, the sexual assault victims he's threatened to sue, and the disabled he thoughtlessly bullied. This is a man who believes he can do whatever he wants with impunity. The fear this man has created disgusts me. I would like to believe this is NOT WHO WE ARE, but obviously I was wrong. About one fourth of the American population voted for this pig which isn't many, but because of that rigged electoral college he wins. Most voted for Clinton but our system is so archaic it doesn't work. This election has defied all the values we teach as a civilized society. I for one am thankful I don't have children or grandchildren. I wouldn't know what to tell them. 

Lessons from the Election

Lesson #1: You don't have to work hard to get ahead if you have a rich daddy.

Lesson #2: You don't have to have any political knowledge or years of experience and expertise to become president of the United States, only Russian connections and a lot of brain dead followers.

Lesson #3: Lying con-artists don't go to jail, they win.

Lesson #4: Bullies aren't held accountable for their bad behavior, they win.

Lesson #5: White, ugly rich men with supremacist leanings are no longer considered scourges of society, they win.

Lesson #6: Any lowlife with little intelligence can be president.

Lesson #7: Women are to be objectified, mistreated, and used for entertainment.

Lesson #8: Most of America is stupid, racist, sexist and gullible.

Lesson #9: Morality is obsolete. Why care the president has been married multiple times, has extra-marital affairs (with 13 year old girls), or his third wife is a nudie model? How many First Ladies can you see naked online? Wow.

Lesson #10: Respect and etiquette are no longer required. It's every [white] man for himself.



Gregg Popovich, head coach of the San Antonio Spurs, very eloquently expressed what the better half the American population are feeling:

“Right now I’m just trying to formulate thoughts. It’s too early. I’m just sick to my stomach. Not basically because the Republicans won or anything, but the disgusting tenure and tone and all of the comments that have been xenophobic, homophobic, racist, misogynistic.

“I live in that country where half of the people ignored all of that to elect someone. That’s the scariest part of the whole thing to me. It’s got nothing to do with the environment and Obamacare, and all of the other stuff. We live in a country that ignored all of those values that we would hold our kids accountable for. They’d be grounded for years if they acted and said the things that have been said in that campaign by Donald Trump. […]

“The fact that people can just gloss that over, start talking about the transition team, and we’re all going to be kumbaya now and try to make the country good without talking about any of those things. And now we see that he’s already backing off of immigration and Obamacare and other things, so was it a big fake, which makes you feel it’s even more disgusting and cynical that somebody would use that to get the base that fired up. To get elected. And what gets lost in the process are African Americans, and Hispanics, and women, and the gay population, not to mention the eighth grade developmental stage exhibited by him when he made fun of the handicapped person. I mean, come on. That’s what a seventh grade, eighth grade bully does. And he was elected president of the United States. We would have scolded our kids. We would have had discussions until we were blue in the face trying to get them to understand these things. He is in charge of our country. That’s disgusting.”

A reporter then interrupted him.

“I’m not done,” Popovich said. “One could go on and on, we didn’t make this stuff up. He’s angry at the media because they reported what he said and how he acted. That’s ironic to me. It makes no sense. So that’s my real fear, and that’s what gives me so much pause and makes me feel so badly that the country is willing to be that intolerant and not understand the empathy that’s necessary to understand other group’s situations. I’m a rich white guy, and I’m sick to my stomach thinking about it. I can’t imagine being a Muslim right now, or a woman, or an African American, a Hispanic, a handicapped person. How disenfranchised they might feel. And for anyone in those groups that voted for him, it’s just beyond my comprehension how they ignore all of that. My final conclusion is, my big fear is — we are Rome.”

Yep. Caligula's Rome. 

Communities are seeing more racially-motivated violence, schools are experiencing more bullying, suicide hotline calls have doubled, and the Ku Klux Klan are marching. Then there are the children of our country traumatize because a BULLY has been elected president and schools are hiring grief counselors to help them cope with the stress. Children of immigrants are in a panic believing when they get home from school they'll find their parents deported. All this trauma has been labeled, "The Trump Effect." The Rapist President must be really proud! Trump's promise of Making America Great Again, sold and swindled to the gullible ignorant, is a lie. In a recent interview, the slime bag was asked if his campaign rhetoric went too far and his response, "No. I won." He cares very little for the fear and turmoil he's caused or the people he is expected to lead. What a self-centered jerk. Let the legacy begin.

Trump is Caligula reincarnated.

Caligula's reign of terror lasted for four years. Hitler was in power for twelve years. I can't decide if Trump is more like Hitler or more like Caligula since they all had/have the same agenda. Is it the same evil soul reincarnated over and over again? Sadly through the ignorance of people, history repeats itself. Civilization will suffer and years of multicultural tolerance, women's rights, and environmental protection will be rolled back a century. So sad.

October Movie Reviews

*****   Exceptional

****     Great

***       OK

**         So So

*           Blah

All Roads Lead to Rome The plot description had all kinds of potential. Single mother takes teenage daughter to Italy to get her away from her druggie boyfriend, runs into old flame, daughter escapes heads to airport in a sports car with flame's mother and the chase begins. It wasn't funny and it wasn't dramatic. It was nothing and less than interesting. I think my issue with it was the star: Sarah Jessica Parker. I think she needs to do something with her hair so it doesn't looks so ratty and witchy. Maybe a style so she's not constantly having to toss it out of her face or play with it. I think some acting classes would be nice, maybe some voice lessons so she doesn't sound so whiny, and I would like it if she'd look less like my step-mother. I'd like a better, less contrived script as well. So bad. One star for Italian landscape. *

Because of Winn Dixie was a sweet, feel-good movie based on the young adult novel of the same name. It's about a smelly, ill-mannered dog that whines out of control when left alone, tears up the whole house if left inside, shits all over the neighbor's yard, goes ballistic during thunder storms, and barks way too much. A perfect example of the dog-god mentality of ignorant bad dog owners who are incapable of training a dog because they are too stupid or lazy yet everyone thinks bad-behaving dogs are cute. They aren't. They are obnoxious. At one point the dog is in church (yeah, really) and he tears off after a rat. They call it a mouse (really?) and think the dog is a saint for not eating it. Dog-god mentality is SO weird. It had an all-star cast, and a cute leading actress. There were a few times I considered turning it off (every time that little girl stuck her nose in the dog's wet, dirty fur - blah) and a few times I got up and did other things leaving it on. Kids would love it. *

The Benefactor is about this incredibly rich man (Richard Gere) who is very close with his best friend, best friend's wife, and their teenage daughter. Especially the daughter (Dakota Fanning). His relationship with the girl is kind of strange and pediphile-ish. While the dad and mom are driving and the rich friend is in the back seat smoking pot, they are hit by a truck and killed. Rich guy survives and blames himself. The story continues five years later and rich guy is still filthy rich, reclusive, guilt stricken, and a morphine addict. The girl, now married and pregnant returns with her new husband. I am unclear how this teenager snagged a doctor. Interesting human relationships. Gere is a great drug addict, but the other performances felt lacking, like they weren't comfortable in their roles. ***

A Bigger Splash is about a rock star (Tilda Swinton) who just had vocal surgery and she's recovering on an Italian island with her boyfriend (Matthias Schoenaerts). Her ex-boyfriend record producer (Ralph Fiennes) and his newly-discovered teenage daughter (Dakota Johnson) show up disrupting the peace and serenity. Very interesting human relations. I think this is the most interesting role I've ever seen for Fiennes. ***

The Boss with Melissa McCarthy is about a former foster child-turned Fortune 500 CEO who ends up going to jail for insider trading and when she gets out she has nowhere to go because she has failed her whole life to cultivate lasting, meaningful relationships. She ends up on the doorstep of her ex-secretary and the woman's young daughter. After weeks of laying on the couch, she takes the girl to her Dandelion club meeting (like Camp Fire or Girl Scouts) and is inspired by their business model. She begins a new brownie making business based on the sales of little girls. It's a lot of stupid humor with incredibly raunchy moments. I don't think I've ever seen a movie that said the F-word so many times especially since half the cast are under twelve. Melissa McCarthy is interesting though and fascinating to watch. ***

Charlotte's Web I've never seen this movie! It stars Dakota Fanning when she was a little tyke. I love talking pig movies. Julia Roberts was Charlotte's voice. Such a lovely voice. All star cast of celebrity voices. Beautiful imaginative sets and scenery. ****

A Civil Action was about the chemical contamination of water killing the children of a small town and the small personal injury law firm that takes on the big corporate companies. It was really good. John Travolta, Robert Duvall, William H. Macy, Kathleen Quinlan, John Lithgow, James Gandolfini to name a few in this all-star cast. Great performances. I was a little disappointed with the ending, but it wasn't a typical Hollywood outcome where the good guys win and the bad guys pay...it was realistic with lots of legal and corporate sleaze. I like the commentary...Travolta's character narrates how the legal system really works and during the trial Duvall's character is shown in flashback lecturing to his Harvard law students how NOT to win a case which is how Travolta's character is proceeding. Interesting.****

Enemy with Jake Gyllenhaal was a very strange movie with really ominous thriller music. It was about a college professor who seems a little brain-dead like he's on too much valium. He shuffles when he walks which was weirdly irritating. He rents a movie and one of the actors looks just like him so with a little research finds the guy, calls him, meets with him in a creepy hotel room. But it's all really wrong. First, that damn music clearly indicates it's not what it seems. Second, they are afraid of each other, threatening, "don't ever call here again" so clearly something is off. If I found my doppleganger, I'd be kind of excited. One has a weepy pregnant wife and the other has a irritable girlfriend...the mother seems to be the key when she tells the professor that he needs to stop moonlighting as a third rate actor or "Of course you love blueberries!" when we just saw the scene of the actor asking why there are no blueberries in his refrigerator. There are other earlier hints, but not obvious until the end. They are the same person and he must be psychotic or something (music...), but they never make it clear. And there are big spiders. I think he offs the girlfriend in the end...maybe? Then it just ended. The music was obnoxious and the plot a little slow as if it wasn't getting to the point fast enough. **

Forsaken was a western about a man (Kiefer Sutherland) who comes home ten years after the war to his reverend father's (Donald Sutherland) home vowing to never kill again. Unfortunately, his reputation precedes him. The town is besieged by bad men confiscating land through violence and Kiefer manages to turn the other cheek until they attack his father. Beautiful landscapes and scenery, great performances. Demi Moore plays a long-lost love. That woman is WAY TOO skinny and looks skeletal in a very scary way. She's nearly unrecognizable. She's a great actress but her appearance is distracting. I think she needs to leave well enough alone and let herself age gracefully. ****

The Giver is based on a sci-fi young adult novel of the same name by Lois Lowry about a futuristic community that has been sterilized, stripped of all humanity in order to avoid conflict so the human species may continue. The reason for this is unclear although they imply something very bad happened in the past. They take injections every morning to rid themselves of human emotion, the police state monitors everything they do, lots of rules and curfews, and cameras. They grow babies in a test-tube nursery and cull them if they don't fit certain expectations. When children who are allowed to live turn 18 they are given their assignments for jobs. Jonas is assigned to be the new Receiver of Memories and he learns his trade from the Giver. On the sly he stops the injections and with the return of his human  memories starts experiencing joy, pain and love. Then he takes steps to save the community and return everyone's memory so they can live like full human beings and experience life. It was good. I liked the black and white fading into color when the memories returned. ****

I'll See You in My Dreams is about an older woman (Blythe Danner) who since the death of her husband twenty years prior has lived single and independent life...with her dog for a companion. (Blah!) In the first ten minutes the dog has to be put to sleep . I was so thankful. I didn't want to watch a movie about a lonely old woman with a dog fixation. Oddly enough as soon as the dog is gone a big, black rat moves into her house. So weird I'm watching a lot of dog and rat themes lately. What is that?  She plays cards with friends once a week, goes golfing, has a garden, does stuff. The movie was a very interesting and insightful commentary on life and growing old. At one point her daughter is going on and on trying cheer her up about what a great life she HAD, great career she HAD, great husband she HAD...and she says something like, "But all your examples are in the past - what about NOW? I'm still alive!! [I think?]" I totally get that. There are times I wonder if this is all there is to life and whether or not I'm really living. Granted, Blythe isn't chemically sensitive so she's not faced with such limitations, but growing old with the isolation of MCS makes one not likely to embrace all life has to offer and that sucks and makes one question what's the point.  Anyway, getting rid of the dog forced her to look for human companionship which personally I think has an excellent message...so the dog had a thematic purpose rather acting as a sad ornament. She meets her new pool boy and they become life-pondering drinking buddies. It's a sweet relationship. Then she meets a dashing older man (Sam Elliott). He has an awesome outlook on life, is charming, and owns a yacht. They have two wonderful dates and she begins to fall for him. He asks her if she's ever considered getting married again and she's surprised, "What the hell I hardly know you!" Sensibly she wants to take it slowly, but is that realistic at her age? I liked the movie a lot, however, this is the second movie I've seen this month where these lovely older actresses are overly painted with too much make-up. Rita Perlman's makeup was so heavy you couldn't see her eyes. I think movies that feature older people need to hire make-up artists who are also older and who won't be tempted to make them look like hookers in hopes it'll make them look younger. There was one scene Blythe is up early in the morning with hardly any make-up on and she was BEAUTIFUL. Her blue eyes dazzled without that thick, dark eye shadow and liner. That's how she should have looked throughout the whole movie!! STOP WITH THE HEAVY MAKE-UP ON OLDER WOMEN!  I also think they should have come up with a better title. I understand where it came from, but it makes it sound like some kind of silly love story rather than a story with far more depth. ****

Into the Woods (2010) is the film of the stage production. I've seen it before. It's wonderful. Starring Bernadette Peters as the witch. Outstanding performances, and sets and music. So much better than the recent movie version. *****

Just Our Luck Oh, it was so bad. The opening credits were bad, the music was bad, the acting was astoundingly bad. All bad and extremely low budget.  I lasted about 10 minutes. *

Me Before You is based on the book by the same name about a man who is rich, handsome, successful, active, and after an accident is in a wheelchair. He's in constant pain, gets pneumonia four times a year, has life-threatening health issues that warrants constant supervision and physical therapy, and is miserable. Emilia Clarke (Daenerys Targaryen from Game of Thrones) is hired as his assistant. She wears leprechaun shoes with matching weird clothes and has no experience with disabilities, but she needs a job badly and his mother thinks he need a companion. He's mean and bitter making her cheerfulness a challenge. Later she finds out he attempted suicide and his plan is to end his life at an assisted-suicide center in Switzerland. Her goal is to change his mind with a bucket list of activities in hopes it'll make him realize he doesn't want to die. After all, he is disgustingly rich and can afford the extravagance. It was good. I totally get how he dwells in the memory of his old life and feels his new self is not authentic. I kept screaming, "You have to pretend the old life never existed! Your new life IS your true self! Stop feeling sorry for yourself!" Granted, being quadriplegic is not the same as being chemically sensitive, but I get it. I loved one of the first scenes with her self-centered boyfriend who is a fitness trainer and marathon runner. He tries to get her to run with him. She hates jogging and biking, but she complies to his demands and runs while holding her boobs. LOL  It was a great scene. She claims, "I'm just not built for running!" LOL. Regardless of the humor, good feelings, and moments of tenderness, I was surprised by the message "better dead than disabled" and kept questioning why there was no organized opposition in the movie providing some realistic conflict. I don't know if that was a good message and can only imagine the movie had a lot of people not happy about it. I just read an article about how easy it is now to get approved for assisted suicide. Anyone can die, in fact, insurance is more likely to approve suicide than it is to approve cancer treatments. Wow. ****

The Showdown looked like it might be an interesting western. The opening credits were bad, the opening scene was bad, the acting was bad, the landscape looked like someone's California ranch, and the actors looked as if they never rode a horse a day in their lives. Then the dialogue started...so bad. I lasted less than a minute. <zero stars>

The Water Diviner is about an Australian (Russell Crowe) who has some kind of unexplained sixth sense for finding things. He raises his three boys on Arabian Nights and when World War I comes along all three barely adult sons go to war in Turkey never to return. After his wife commits suicide, he goes to find where his boys died to bring their bodies home. Lots of movies about the English and the British perspective of WWI, but rarely the Turkish perspective. Very good, excellent performances, icky battle scenes. My one criticism is a lot of the time I couldn't understand what they were saying between the Turkish accents and the Australian accents. Oh, and the music was a little loud, overly dramatic, and irritating. ****

Wild Oats is about a woman (Shirley MacLaine) who's husband dies and leaves a $50,000 life insurance policy. The insurance company sends her a check for $5 million by mistake. She finds out her best friend (Jessica Lange) who's husband just left her for his young secretary has a 20% chance to live beyond six months (no details on the disease). They decide to spend the money and head to the Canary Islands for some fun. Lots of "elderly" humor and living carelessly themes. What was disturbing is how gullible and how easily swindled these two women were which is frightening. Is that what happens with age? God, I hope I'm never that gullible and I hope this was just Hollywood taking liberties. Again, we see a barely recognizable Demi Moore (I had to look on the DVD cover to see who it was) too skinny and with long, stringy hair. She looks so unhealthy and really needs to gain weight and do something with that hair. What really bothered me, though, is all the make-up they put on our heroines. What is with that? Do make-up artists think if they add extra dark eyeliner and bright red lips it'll make the women look better? Or younger? It's not needed and all that dark make-up makes them look like sad, used hookers. Shirley and Jessica are beautiful WITHOUT all that make-up! ****

Z for Zachariah I don't know what the title means. I must have missed the reference somewhere. This is an apocalyptic movie where the world has been contaminated with radiation - it was never quite explained how this happened, but I guess not really necessary for the plot. This woman is living in a pristine valley saved from contamination in her family farm alone with her dog. After the initial contamination her father and brother left to find help and never returned. It's been a year of loneliness and a man shows up one day dressed in a hazmat suit. She's really happy as the isolation was taking a toll and she was ready to give up. Then another man shows up. He's much cuter (Chris Pine) and the other one starts feeling jealous. Beautiful scenery. Excellent performances. ***

I am TREMENDOUSLY INNOCENT!

The Orange Man
Leader of Deplorables
Demagogue of Temper Tantrums

We in America, land of the free, home of the brave, are winding down to the end of a really unprecedented, disgustingly ugly election campaign between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. Last year my international readers asked me about Donald Trump and if he was for real. My response was he is using his money and celebrity to follow his dreams. There is nothing wrong with that. It's the American way. Or maybe he's really a Democrat and his goal was to destroy the Republicans? Anyway, it sounded like a bad joke and few seemed to take him seriously. However, I was absolutely convinced he'd never get to past the primaries. Americans aren't THAT stupid! Are they?

Now, I know a majority of Americans are stupid. Case in point, most refuse to stop using their toxic, poisonous products that put the rest of us at risk. They smoke, drink, eat junk food, lay around watching reality television and wonder why the health care system is failing. They shop for cheap Chinese-made products from Walmart instead of supporting our country and purposely suck the life out of the welfare system instead of getting a job and paying taxes like real Americans do. Or worse, they have a job and refuse to pay taxes.

Unfortunately, when it comes to the incredibly ignorant, I assumed they would be too stupid to get off their couches, read and educate themselves on the issues, then take the time to go to the trouble to vote for an arrogant, sexist, racist, power-crazed, morally-depraved sociopath with no political experience. Well, I was wrong. They don't have to move off the couch, or make any effort at all, or read, or understand anything. They really don't even have to care about the issues.  They just had to lay around watching their televisions, drool over their reality show celebrity and listen to his negative rhetoric because his anger and aggression is what they understand. He calls to them. When Hillary Clinton said half of Trump's followers were deplorables, she was wrong. They are ALL deplorables. The deplorables are so low class and stupid they see this as a compliment. She tried to cover her faux-pas by blaming this on Trump. Again, I disagree. These people are the bottom of the barrel. Trump didn't make them disgusting, stupid, entitled and angry, he just gave them a voice.

So Donald Trump is the Republican candidate and we have been forced through these last months to listen to his disrespectful rants, undemocratic threats, and bullish insults. He has no clue about the issues and can't even articulate his ideas well as he infuses them with temper tantrums to camouflage his confusion and frustration. His understanding of the democratic process is comical. He believes his money and notoriety is enough to catapult him into a position of ultimate power. He feels entitled like his rabble. His uneducated, white-trash followers think he's going to do what he says and keep his promises. HA! Many Republicans won't support him and the Religious Right has backed away from him. He is the fault of a Republican Party that is so screwed up it can't even nominate a proper candidate. Experience should be the minimum requirement. Who hires someone for a job with no experience?

We are seeing a lot of rebuttal as the Clinton campaign is pulling out the big guns...Barack and Michelle Obama. Michelle's speeches are mesmerizing. She's my new idol. She brings tears to my eyes. If she ever runs for president, I'd vote for her! I doubt if she has ever sexually assaulted anyone.

Just a week before the election, a super-PAC organization began a campaign against Trump called Not Who We Are. You can read about that HERE. Lots of rich, silicon-valley entrepreneurs banning together to try to make a difference at the last minute. They have produced a test called Is Trump Your Fault?  He's definitely someones fault. However, according to my test score

I AM TREMENDOUSLY INNOCENT!

I'm not surprised, but it was fun taking the test anyway. I want a t-shirt with these words on it. However, even though I am innocent I am also tremendously embarrassed at the stupidity of my countrymen and women as the international world watches. The Orange Man is determined to Make America a Laughingstock.

In many ways it is amazing someone with absolutely no political experience (and no morals) could actually get this far when so many viable politicians couldn't, but it's also frightening a sex offender could be our next president. How did that happen, you ask? We didn't take him seriously. We didn't understand the power of the low class rabble. This is how Hitler got elected. This is history repeating itself. Same negative, hateful rhetoric appealing to star-struck brainless voters who felt neglected and abused by the system, and a candidate who wants to disenfranchise minorities to give power to his misguided fans. It's definitely been a nauseating, oops!, I mean, interesting campaign experience.

I am lucky in my area we get our ballots through the mail. I can't imagine having to wait in line with a bunch of smelly people for up to four hours just to vote. Do any of you have to wait in long lines? How do you cope? What do you do to survive the onslaught of toxic exposure?

Support the democratic process and vote!

Unless you are voting for the sex offender...then veg out on your couch watching Celebrity Apprentice reruns, eat your Cheese-puffs, and forget to head to the polls. They are crowded anyway.